Top Tips to Handle Embarrassing Photos Of You On the Internet

We've all been in this situation after a drunken night out - you wake up in the morning with a pounding head, a mouth like the bottom of a parrots cage and with fuzzy memories of the alcohol driven escapades which you indulged in the previous night. Never mind though, you didn't do anything that bad, did you?

After gulping down a piece of toast and pouring coffee down your throat, you venture to the computer, fire up Facebook and, "uh oh", a collection of very embarrassing photos of you. I didn't really do that last night, did I? There you are in all your glory making a complete fool of yourself. So perhaps you aren't the wild and irresponsible person that the photo portrays, but how do other people know that? Either way, there are several things to consider before you start dealing with this issue.

You need to decide what makes these "embarrassing photos". After all, it's easy to get paranoid about these things, and they may not be as bad as you think. Are you doing anything in these photos illegal or is it socially immoral?

The first course of action should be to "un-tag" yourself from the photo. If the picture is simply of you tripping over the curb or walking into the door, it may make you look silly, but ultimately will do you no harm as long as you have a sense of humor. At the other end of the scale, photos that may be amusing to some, could end up costing you a job or your reputation. Recruiters are frequently turning to the internet to find out about candidates, and embarrassing photos of you passed out on the street dressed as a pumpkin are not going to win you any jobs. These photos must be dealt with!

So, how do you handle this situation? The first option is to politely ask your friend to remove the embarrassing photos from the internet for you. If this person truly is a friend then he or she will be sympathetic to your plight.

If you fail with step one, then I invite you to consider option two. This requires you to have a good sense of humor and to be able throw any insecurities away. If what you are doing in the embarrassing photos is not breaking the law and it's not going to cost you your career, then simply post a comment under the photo acknowledging that you were being silly and laugh it off. Lastly, if the photos are incriminating or you are doing something that is going to cause professional problems for you, then write a comment stating that you accept that you behaved irresponsibly and that you have seen the error of your ways - this will at least alleviate some of the tension caused by the embarrassing photos.